Posted by admin on 24/10/2009
In all my time spent trawling the internet for information and help when building our solar panels I read stacks of articles and viewed a lot of videos. The quality of both wasn’t always great but even the poor quality ones did occasionally have some value for people wanting solar powered energy. The quality of my own little video on youtube is pretty bad but my kids convinced me to do one to encourage people to visit this website so I‘m denying all responsibility for it!
Anyway this is one video that I did find quite useful earlier on in my search. It’s a google tech talk about solar power and solar panel installation and is made by Meredith McClintock who’s an industry expert. She works for one of the biggest solar power companies in the states and there is a lot of information in the video. However, it is 57 minutes long and can be a bit slow in places so make sure you’ve got a coffee and plenty of time.
The video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyiPbiPLmoM
Posted by admin on 22/10/2009
You might think solar panel racks are a strange place to start when talking about sustainable energy but this was the one thing that could have scuppered our inexperienced eco-freindly plans and being a bit of a dinosaur and only able to think of one thing at a time it’s the bit that sticks in my mind!
Over dinner one evening, shortly after the birth of our first grandchild my wife and I had our “state of the planet” conversation. I think it’s something that most new grandparents and parents will think about. Having your own children makes you think about what legacy you’re leaving them but by the time they get to being toddlers you’re so caught up in doing the right thing in your immediate environment, right food, right schools, right toys, right friends, that the larger “outside” world takes a back seat.
Anyway, the arrival of Sophie made us start thinking again about the state of the planet that she’s going to inherit from us. The beauty of being grandparents means that we actually have the time to look at the bigger picture.
I spent quite a bit of time trawling the internet (another advantage of being semi-retired!) and investigating alternative energy sources. We eventually decided that solar panels were a great idea, particularly for us as we have a large south-facing roof but when I started looking at prices I was horrified. It would take us years to get a return on what it would cost us to have them installed and although economy wasn’t the reason we were doing it, we weren’t particularly well off and didn’t have a few thousand to spare.
Being a bit stubborn and obviously having too much time on my hands my thinking went from “they can’t cost that much to make” to “why don’t I just make them myself?” Don’t get the wrong impression here, I’m not a DIYer of any talent. I detest decorating and my shelves never look quite right even if they’re level. With every DIY project I carry out there seems to be a little bit of “retouching” afterwards to make good my minor bodges. Still, the thought gave me something else to search for on the internet so a little bit more time “busy” in our spareroom/office!
Click here if you’d rather cut to the chase and just know how to build your own solar panels